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T Newmont Nusa Tenggara is set to resume exports following a nearly two-month hiatus after the mining company secured a recommendation for an extension of exports permit from the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

'€œNewmont Nusa Tenggara received the recommendation on Nov. 18,'€ Newmont spokesperson Rubi Purnomo said on Thursday.

'€œRegarding the refining facility partnership to be developed by PT Freeport Indonesia, we will continue our partnership commitment.'€

By securing the recommendation, Newmont'€™s export permit will be extended for another six months. The mining company'€™s export permit expired in September.

The government has set a requirement that mining companies process mineral ore domestically before they are allowed to ship overseas as part of efforts to give added-value to commodities.

Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry mineral and coal director general Bambang Gatot Ariyono said that Newmont had agreed on new details in its partnership with Freeport for the development of a new copper smelter.

'€œThey have a new memorandum of understanding in which Newmont Nusa Tenggara has made an early commitment of US$3 million to support the smelter development,'€ Bambang said on Thursday.

The funds will be disbursed pending a definitive agreement to be inked by the two firms in the near future, he added.

'€œWe are certain about the commitment as there has also been an official statement from Freeport Indonesia regarding the agreement,'€ he said.

Under the agreement, Newmont Nusa Tenggara will supply around 400,000 tons of copper concentrate per year to be processed by Freeport'€™s smelter.

Enforcing the 2009 Mining Law, the government has partially imposed a ban on the export of mineral ore starting from January 2014. However, the government is allowing the export of semi-finished products '€” such as copper concentrate '€” until 2017 in return for the companies'€™ commitment to develop processing or refining facilities to process the minerals into metal end products.

The development of the facilities can be undertaken individually by each company or by partnerships among them. Newmont has not developed a smelter on its own investment as it considers that its copper reserves are not sufficient for such a development.

The permits for concentrate export can only be secured if companies obtain a recommendation from the mineral and coal office, which oversees the progress of smelter development.

Freeport Indonesia spokesperson Riza Pratama also declined to give details about the plans.

'€œWe are the company that is developing the smelter. Therefore, we cannot comment, the [responsibility for] clarification is on Newmont Nusa Tenggara'€™s side,'€ he said.

Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of US-based Freeport-McMoRan Inc., secured an extension of export permits last July after convincing the government that its development of a smelter has progressed. The company, which operates Grasberg mine in Papua, is planning to build a new smelter in Gresik, East Java, near an existing copper smelter operated by PT Smelting Gresik.

The new smelter is estimated to require $2.3 billion in investment.